


Red

by torkz



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Derek Nurse Birthday Bash 2018, Falling In Love, First Dates, Fluff, M/M, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 09:14:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13678707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torkz/pseuds/torkz
Summary: Derek Nurse hates love, hates attention, hates everything about Valentine's Day, including the stupid colors. Until he doesn't.





	Red

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BlueLanternEnjolras](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueLanternEnjolras/gifts).



> I was a pinch hitter for the Birthday Bash and was given the incredible prompt of "...these two nerds falling in love" and I hope I delivered. Thanks for the opportunity to write for you, I hope you enjoy it!

Derek Nurse hates Valentine’s Day.  _ Hates _ it. He hates the flowers, and the gross fake affection, he hates the color red and the color pink. He hates the shitty “Be Mine?” hearts that come in cheap boxes and break your teeth when you bite them and tastes like chalk’s asshole. He hates the brown garbage they call chocolate that comes in the heart shaped boxes, because they’re terrible and they ruin real chocolate for him.

Most of all, he hates the way everyone  _ lies. _ Valentine’s is about doing the romantic things you never do to make up for how shitty you are the rest of the year. He hates how people pour more money than they should into fancy gifts. He hates the weird impulse to make your Valentine’s something instagram worthy, just to go back to hating each other the next day. He hates how everyone lies about how much they want to hang out with him, when they really want to spend their day lying on social media about how much they love their significant other.

Okay, so maybe he’s a little bitter.

Still, he thinks he can be a little bitter, since he’s alone on Valentine’s Day. On his birthday. Whatever.

He pulls his blanket tighter around him and lets himself get lost in the dulcet tones of  _ One Day At A Time _ playing on Netflix. He’s hungry now; he hasn’t moved from his spot on the couch in hours, but he figures he’ll get up when his cat makes him. Or his bladder. Whichever comes first. His phone has been buzzing on and off, with what he assumes are birthday messages, but this time it buzzes with the consistency that comes from a phone call. He picks up without looking.

“Hello?” He answers, voice raspy from disuse.

“Uh, hey, Nurse,” a voice says, and it takes him a moment to recognize it as William Poindexter.

“Dex, hey! What’s up?” Nursey clears his throat, surprised.

“Well, it’s your birthday, and you hadn’t responded to anything in the group chat, so. I figured I would call you? Uh, I know we don’t normally do that, but--I don't know. I wanted to wish you a happy birthday,” Dex says awkwardly.

Nursey smiles. “Well, thank you.”

It’s weird, but not unwelcome. He and Dex had kept in touch after their graduated, but in the absent way that people do when they’re used to talking to each other but don’t put enough energy into really keeping up the relationship. He misses him often, Chowder too. It really is good to hear from him.

“I also, um. I remembered that you hate Valentine’s Day, so I figured you didn’t have a date, and you’re kind of a shut in, so I figured you didn’t have a party. Was I right about that?” Dex says.

“Yes?” Nursey says.

“Oh-- good, because I’m kind of at your door?” Dex says.

Nursey is silent for a moment. “You’re at my WHAT?”

Nursey throws off his blanket and heads to his front door, throwing it open when he looks through the peephole and is greeted with a mop of red hair.

“You’re at my WHAT?” Nursey repeats. 

Dex smiles sheepishly and hangs up his phone before slipping it in his pocket.

“Surprise?” He says, rubbing at the back of his neck.

Nursey says nothing as he holds the door open a little wider so that Dex can slip through. He realizes his phone is still held up to his ear, so he puts it in the pocket of his pajama pants and locks the door behind him. He doesn’t really know what to do with William fucking Poindexter standing in his living room, so he chooses not to do anything. He sits on the couch and wraps back up in his blanket and pats the seat next to him. Dex sits down and kicks his shoes off before tucking his feet under him.

“What are we watching?” He asks.

“One Day At A Time,” Nursey answers as he presses play.

“Ugh, sitcoms? Come on, Nurse, you can do better than that,” Dex says fondly.

“Nope, it’s my birthday, Billy Dex. No chirps on my birthday,” Nursey says.

“Don’t call me that. And I would argue that birthdays are prime time for chirps,” Dex says, and startles as Nursey’s cat jumps into his lap and purrs loudly.

“Engine likes you. That’s rare,” Nursey says, and Dex snorts.

“You named your cat Engine?”

“You named your cat Ankles.”

“I was three! My cat had markings on his ankles!”

“And my cat sounds like a fucking motorcycle engine,” Nursey says.

They’re silent as they listen to Engine’s ridiculous purring as Justina Machado and Rita Moreno arguing about one thing or another on the screen in front of them.

“Okay, yeah. She does,” Dex says with a smirk.

Nursey laughs.

He sneaks glances at Dex every so often, as though he’ll able to figure out his intentions if he looks at his face enough. He’s filled out, the lankiness that didn’t quite leave him in college fading a little as he put on more weight. His hair is longer, but with a better cut, and his freckles seem more concentrated somehow. He looks good, and Nursey has to admit that he’s looking simply because William Poindexter is good to look at. He focuses back on the screen.

“Hey, Dex?” Nursey says eventually.

“Hmm?”

“Why are you here?”

Dex turns to look at him, petting Engine absently, her black fur a lovely contrast to the pale skin of his hands. “It’s not fair that you’re always alone on your birthday. I knew you wouldn’t want to do anything, but still. You shouldn’t be alone.”

Nursey nods. “Thanks, Dexy.”

They sit on the couch for a few hours, scrolling through Netflix and chirping each other for every suggestion the other makes. Eventually, Dex convinces Nursey to leave the house, and they get dressed to go to a little hole in the wall Ethiopian restaurant down the street. It’s not too busy, so they stay and eat, and Nursey, suddenly, inexplicably, is having Valentine’s Dinner with William Poindexter. Birthday dinner. Whatever.

It’s weird because it’s weird, but it’s weird because Dex is kind, and charming, and funny. He’s quick witted, and he listens in a way he didn’t before, and Nursey thinks he could be interested in a way he never let himself consider. They’re all smiles as they walk back to Nursey’s place, and when they stop on the doorstep, Nursey leans against his door, and crosses his arms.

“Did you trick me into a date, Poindexter?” Nursey accuses.

Dex shrugs with a grin that makes Nursey’s heart skip.

“Did you have a good time?” Dex asks, instead of answering.

“Maybe,” Nursey says.

“Well then, maybe I tricked you into a date,” Dex says. Nursey grins.

“Then maybe I liked it,” he says. 

Dex crowds him against the door, and Nursey’s fingers twitch with the urge to touch him.

“Then maybe, I should give you a kiss goodnight,” Dex says, grinning.

Nursey smirks and looks Dex in the eyes, before pushing forward and meeting his lips. The kiss is light, and gentle, with a lot of promises that Nursey hopes Dex will keep. They pull apart with smiles.

“Happy birthday, Nurse,” Dex says softly.

As Nursey tangles the fingers of one hand with Dex’s and buries the other in his hair to pull him in for another kiss, he thinks, for now, he may be okay with the color red.

**Author's Note:**

> as always, leave me a comment, and come visit me on [Tumblr!](https://oluranurse.tumblr.com)


End file.
